Representative Bureaucracy in Times of Fluid Legitimacy

Recent extensions to the theory of Representative Bureaucracy investigate how both internal and external contextual factors affect the meaning and impact of representativeness in public bureaucracies (Keiser et al. 2002; Andrews et al. 2015; Capers 2017). This article contributes to this literature by arguing that the value of representativeness becomes more salient to public bureaucracies during crisis periods. That is, the same organizational setting might influence representation differently in times of stability versus times of crisis/turbulence. The reason is that staff representativeness can carry substantial, inherent legitimacy implications (Gravier 2013; Meier & Capers 2013; Murdoch et al. 2016, 2017).

Empirically, we assess this proposition using a unique new dataset that combines information from Eurobarometer surveys of public opinion with information collected via two web-based surveys among EU civil servants at various points during the financial, governance and legitimacy crisis facing the EU since 2010. Our (preliminary) results indicate a significant match between the policy preferences of member state nationals in the Commission and their country’s inhabitants at the onset of the crisis in 2011 (r=0.12; p=0.023; N=367). Importantly, and in line with our theoretical argument, this positive correlation strengthens substantially in times of fluid legitimacy (r=0.22; p=0.034; N=98). This suggests that crisis periods can trigger a need to align oneself more closely with popular preferences to strengthen the input legitimacy of public policies and institutions. Representation as a value thus gains in importance during crisis periods.